Audacious Colours & Patterns for Kids

Gone are the days when children wore pale and delicate pastels. Manufacturers of clothes for kids nowadays incorporate a palette of unusual colours that children would have never worn years ago.
Traditionally baby boys were dressed in blue and baby girls in pink. Though colours for today’s babies are still soft, most of them have acquired more intense shades: lavender, tea green, mauve, sapphire blue and cream are some examples. Both babies and children now dare to wear unconventional hues that would have been unsuitable for them in the past: warm oranges (like carrot, tangerine and peach), citrusy yellows, bold shades of pink (salmon, cherry, fuchsia, bubblegum), crimson, electric blue, turquoise, green and all its variants (lime, grass, mossy, pistaccio), extreme browns (like coffee and mustard) and even neon and fluorescent colours. Dark tones like plum, aubergine purple, smoke grey and -scary as it may seem- black are the “in-thing” for kids.
Patterns have also changed. In the past, designers of kids’ clothes featured all kinds of animals: zoo species, jungle inhabitants and kindergarten types such as candid elephants, frogs in love, friendly butterflies, bees buzzing round honey pots and the forever classical teddy bears. Clothes for girls generally gave prominence to romantic designs (hearts, flowers), balloons, fairy-tale princesses and castles. Though these motifs were chiefly used in by-gone days, they are still part and parcel of the ones which are stamped on children’s clothes. However, a significant change has taken place: the patterns on contemporary clothes for kids have now acquired a more adult-like approach. Designs formerly reserved for adults -such as mili camo, skulls, spooky castles, roller skates, surfers, urban landscapes, retro milkshades, pirate flags, electric guitars, rock and roll mottoes, Harley Davidson motorcycles, hip hop and punk transfers, computer mice, ecological and good-will messages and even audacious legends in Coca-Cola letters- have been boldy incorporated resulting in wild mixtures, sometimes sophisticated, sometimes amusing...
Traditional patterns (tartans, stripes, polka dots) used to be combined with plain colours; now this matching rule is no longer respected; anarchy reigns: it seems “anything can match anything”. Fabrics that would have never been used for kids before are also becoming trendy: leather, organic cotton, nylon, corduroy, combed cotton and even fishnet and tulle.
Times are a-changing... and so are clothes for the little ones!